He Appeared to Them

Acts 1:2 Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom.

There are forty days between Easter and Pentecost and as I think about what has happened in the past forty days of our church’s life, it is clear to me that Christ and the Spirit he promised us, has appeared in so many ways.

God always equips the people God calls. I believe that. I have lived that so many times in my life and witnessed it countless times in the lives of others. If God has some work for you to do, God will provide you with everything you need to do it. That was what was going on here with the disciples during those first forty days and truth be told it has been going on around here at Heritage for much longer than that.

In order to move out in the Spirit’s power to bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples had to first see it for themselves. They needed the time they had with Jesus after the resurrection, they needed to see him alive, they needed to hear his teaching once, to hear the promise of God’s Kingdom. Christ appeared to them for those forty days, because that was exactly what they needed to do the work to which God was about to call them.

Take a minute and reflect on the ways Christ has shown up in your own life, the ways the Spirit has moved in the midst of your own journey. How has God equipped you in the past? How is God equipping you now? Reflect on how Christ has appeared in and through the life of our congregation. How has God been preparing us for this next season? How have you witnessed God equipping our congregation to share the Gospel, the good news of Christ’s love and grace, with others?

Let us be united in prayer for our congregation today.Pray that we might have eyes to see when Christ appears in our midst.
Pray that we might recognize the equipping that has been happening in us.
Pray that we can put our trust in the God who calls us.
Pray that we can trust that if God calls us to it,
God will provide us with everything we need to answer that call.